Chapter five ✴ Do you know the end?

THE NEXT MORNING, Giselle decided she needed to tell Percy and Grover about her dreams. So, after finishing her breakfast, the brunette walked up to the Poseidon table and pulled Percy up to his feet, his spook hitting the table with a loud clung as she pulled him away from the praying eyes of the campers and signaled for Grover to follow them.

"What ─ Oh, Gigi, what the fuck!" Percy complained as he stumbled after her, "I didn't finish eating that."

"I'll get you something to eat after," Giselle spoke up, her legs taking them to a place where they would usually sit and just do nothing ─ their little resting spot as they called it. She came to a stop as Grover caught up to them, "But I need to tell you something first."

So Giselle told the two boys about her dream. They sat in the meadow watching the satyrs chase the wood nymphs through the snow. The nymphs had promised to kiss the satyrs if they got caught, but they hardly ever did. Usually the nymph would let the satyr get up a full head of steam, then she'd turn into a snow-covered tree and the poor satyr would slam into it headfirst and get a pile of snow dumped on him. 

When she told Grover and Percy her nightmare, the satyr started twirling his finger in his shaggy leg fur. Son of Poseidon stared at the ground, his jaw set as he listened.

"A cave ceiling collapsed on her?" Grover asked.

"Yeah. What the fuck does that mean?"

Grover shook his head. "I don't know. But after what Zoë dreamed ─ "

"Whoa." Percy raised his hands in a pausing motion, "What do you mean? Zoë had a dream like that?"

"I. . . I don't know, exactly. About three in the morning she came to the Big House and demanded to talk to Chiron. She looked really panicked."

Giselle tilted her head and frowned, "And you would know this because. . . ?"

Grover blushed. "I was sort of camped outside the Artemis cabin."

"What for?"

"Just to be, you know, near them."

"You're a stalker with hooves." Percy laughed.

"I am not! Anyway, I followed her to the Big House and hid in a bush and watched the whole thing. She got real upset when Argus wouldn't let her in. It was kind of a dangerous scene."

Giselle tried to imagine that. Argus was the head of security for camp ─ a big blond dude with eyes all over his body. He rarely showed himself unless something serious was going on. She wouldn't want to place bets on a fight between him and Zoë Nightshade. 

"What did she say?" Percy asked.

Grover grimaced. "Well, she starts talking really old-fashioned when she gets upset, so it was kind of hard to understand. But something about Artemis being in trouble and needing the Hunters. And then she called Argus a boil-brained lout. . . I think that's a bad thing. And then he called her ─ "

"Whoa, wait. How could Artemis be in trouble?"

"I. . . well, finally Chiron came out in his pajamas and his horse tail in curlers and ─ "

"He wears curlers in his tail?" Percy asked.

"That's what you want to know?" Giselle raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, no. . . sorry," he said. "Go on."

"Well, Zoë said she needed permission to leave camp immediately. Chiron refused. He reminded Zoë that the Hunters were supposed to stay here until they received orders from Artemis. And she said. . ." Grover gulped. "She said 'How are we to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?'"

"What do you mean lost? Like she needs directions?"

"No. I think she meant gone. Taken. Kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Percy asked bewildered, "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone."

"But she was like, the goddess of flowers."

Grover looked offended. "Springtime."

"Whatever. Artemis is a lot more powerful than that. Who could kidnap her? And why?"

Grover shook his head miserably. "I don't know. Kronos?"

"He can't be that powerful already. Can he?" Giselle asked, her hands picking at the grass below her.

The last time they'd seen Kronos, he'd been in tiny pieces. Well. . . they hadn't actually seen him. Thousands of years ago, after the big Titan ─ God war, the gods had sliced him to bits with his own scythe and scattered his remains in Tartarus, which is like the gods' bottomless recycling bin for their enemies. Two summers ago, Kronos had tricked them to the very edge of the pit and almost pulled them in. Then last summer, on board Luke's demon cruise ship, they'd seen a golden coffin, where Luke claimed he was summoning the Titan Lord out of the abyss, bit by bit, every time someone new joined their cause. Kronos could influence people with dreams and trick them, but Giselle didn't see how he could physically overcome Artemis if he was still like a pile of evil bark mulch.

"I don't know," Grover said. "I think somebody would know if Kronos had re-formed. The gods would be more nervous. But still, it's weird, you two are having a nightmare the same night as Zoë. It's almost like ─ "

"They're connected," Giselle said.

Over in the frozen meadow, a satyr skidded on his hooves as he chased after a redheaded tree nymph. She giggled and held out her arms as he ran toward her. Pop! She turned into a Scotch pine and he kissed the trunk at top speed.

"Ah, love," Grover said dreamily.

Giselle thought about Zoë's nightmare, which she'd had only a few hours after her own.

"I've got to talk to Zoë," she said.

"I'll come with you," Percy begun to stand up, but the brunette pushed him down.

"Yeah, that won't go well. . . see, she doesn't like boys and since I'm not one, I have better chances."

"Um, before you do. . ." Grover took something out of his coat pocket. It was a threefold display like a travel brochure. "You remember what you said ─ about how it was weird the Hunters just happened to show up at Westover Hall? I think they might've been scouting us."

"Scouting us? What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Well, Artemis did ask Giselle to join her hunt. . . multiple time," Grover pointed out and the girl winced at the memory, "And, um, I found this."

He gave the boy the brochure. Giselle recognized it immediately. It was about the Hunters of Artemis. The front read, A WISE CHOICE FOR YOUR FUTURE! Inside were pictures of young maidens doing hunter stuff, chasing monsters, shooting bows. There were captions like: HEALTH BENEFITS: IMMORTALITY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU! and A BOY-FREE TOMORROW!

"I found that in Annabeth's backpack," Grover said.

Giselle looked bewildered. He had gone though Annabeth's stuff? When she's gone? When she's missing? What was he thinking? This was crossing a fair line even for him. The girl snatched the pamphlet from the satyr's hand, him flinching at her sudden move.

"Don't go though her personal stuff," she snapped, "It's inversion of privacy and totally crossing the line with everything happening around us."

"I. . ." Grover begun, but no words came out of his mouth.

The girl puffed and turned around, walking away from the two boys as she held the pamphlet in her hands. She couldn't deny the crack her heart felt at the thought of her best friend wanting to join.

THE REST OF THE DAY all Giselle could think about was Annabeth.

No matter what she did to try and distract her, all her thoughts would go back to the gray-eyed girl. She never thought it was this possible to miss someone, but than again, they were like two peas in a pot. When Annabeth was at school it was easy, Giselle could just Iris-message her and they would talk hours and hours on. But now. . . she didn't even know where the girl was.

As the girl finished up her training session with Cody, Giselle started to make her way over to the pegasus stables as Milan, one of the Ares kids, told her there she would find Percy. But she didn't. Instead, she found Silena Beauregard from the Aphrodite cabin having an argument with one of the Hunters, and so the brunette decided she'd better not get involved and try and look somewhere else.

Only other logical things where Percy could be were ─ either his cabin or. . . empty chariot stands? Giselle didn't guess that one. But there he was, sitting alone, sulking as he watched the archery fields where Chiron was conducting target practice.

The girl walked up to him, but before she could say anything else, the boy jumped to his feet and almost crushed into her. His hands grabbed onto her shoulder to keep them both from falling, before his eyes landing on his best friend, "Right time as always." he grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

"What?" was all she go to say as Percy dragged her towards the Big House.

Two demigods ran into the house and took the stairs, Giselle's confusion now clearing. She'd only done this once before, and she still had nightmares about it. Percy opened the trap door and stepped into the attic. The room was dark and dusty and cluttered with junk, just like she remembered. There were shields with monster bites out of them, and swords bent in the shapes of daemon heads, and a bunch of taxidermy, like a stuffed harpy and a bright orange python. Over by the window, sitting on a three-legged stool, was the shriveled-up mummy of an old lady in a tie-dyed hippie dress.

The Oracle. 

"Hi," Percy said. "Uh, what's up?"

Giselle winced at how stupid that sounded. 

"I have a question," the boy said a little louder. "I need to know about Annabeth. How can I save her?"

No answer.

The sun slanted through the dirty attic window, lighting the dust motes dancing in the air.

They waited longer. 

Then Percy got angry. He was being stonewalled by a corpse.  

"All right," he said. "Fine. I'll figure it out myself."

"What did you expect to happen?" Giselle asked as she turned and bumped into a big table full of souvenirs. It seemed more cluttered than the last time she was here. Heroes stored all kinds of stuff in the attic: quest trophies they no longer wanted to keep in their cabins, or stuff that held painful memories. She knew Luke had stored a dragon claw somewhere up here ─ the one that had scarred his face. 

There was a broken sword hilt labeled: This broke and Leroy got killed. Nineteen ninety-nine.

Then she noticed a pink silk scarf with a label attached to it. Giselle picked up the tag and tried to read it:

SCARF OF THE GODDESS APHRODITE
RECOVERED AT WATERLAND, DENVER, CO.,
BY GISELLE WRIGHT, ANNABETH CHASE AND PERCY JACKSON 

They stared at the scarf. The girl'd totally forgotten about it. Two years ago, Annabeth had ripped this scarf out of Percy's hands and said something like, Oh, no. No love magic for you! To which Giselle agreed. But, she'd just assumed Annabeth'd thrown it away. And yet here it was. She'd kept it all this time? And why had she stashed it in the attic?

Giselle turned to the mummy. She hadn't moved, but the shadows across her face made it look like she was smiling gruesomely.

The brunette placed the scarf where it originally was, "Let's go?"

Percy nodded and they raced out of the attic.

THAT NIGHT AFTER DINNER, Percy was seriously ready to beat the Hunters at capture the flag. It was going to be a small game: only thirteen Hunters, including Bianca di Angelo, and about the same number of campers. 

Zoë Nightshade looked pretty upset. She kept glancing resentfully at Chiron, like she couldn't believe he was making her do this. The other Hunters didn't look too happy, either. Unlike last night, they weren't laughing or joking around. They just huddled together in the dining pavilion, whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armor. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. Giselle guessed Zoë had told them about her nightmare.

On their side, they had Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus guys, a few from the Ares cabin, The Stoll brothers and Nico from Hermes cabin and a few Aphrodite kids. It was weird that the Aphrodite cabin wanted to play. Usually they sat on the sidelines, chatted, and checked their reflections in the river and stuff, but when they heard we were fighting the Hunters, they were raring to go.

"I'll show them 'love is worthless,'" Silena Beauregard grumbled as she strapped on her armor. "I'll pulverize them!"

That left Thalia and Percy; and Giselle, Cody, Juliet and Matheo from the Muses' Cabin.

"I'll take the offense," Thalia volunteered, looking at Percy. "You take defense."

"Oh." Percy hesitated, because he'd been about to say the exact same thing, only reversed. "Don't you think with your shield and all, you'd be better defense?"

Thalia already had Aegis on her arm, and even their own teammates were giving her a wide berth, trying not to cower before the bronze head of Medusa.

"Well, I was thinking it would make better offense," Thalia said. "Besides, you've had more practice at defense."

Giselle wasn't sure if she was teasing him. he'd had some pretty bad experiences with defense on capture the flag. His first year, Annabeth had put Percy out as a kind of bait, and he'd almost been gored to death with spears and killed by a hellhound.

"Yeah, no problem," Percy said with hesitation in his voice.

"Cool."

Thalia and Cody turned to help some of the Aphrodite kids, who were having trouble suiting up their armor without breaking their nails.

Juliet was helping Matheo put on his armor on correctly just as Nico di Angelo ran up to them with a big grin on his face.

"This is awesome!" his blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes, and his breastplate was about six sizes too big. Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"

"Well. . . no." Percy said.

"But the Hunters are immortal, right?"

"That's only if they don't fall in battle. Besides ─ "

"It would be awesome if we just, like, resurrected as soon as we were killed, so we could keep fighting, and ─ "

"Nico, this is serious." Percy looked annoyed at the younger boy, "Real swords. These can hurt."

He stared at Percy, a little disappointed, and the boy realized that he'd just sounded like his mother. Whoa.

Percy patted Nico on the shoulder. "Hey, it's cool. Just follow the team. Stay out of Zoë's way. We'll have a blast."  

"It's real fun!" Matheo pipped in, Juliet making sure his helmet stayed on this time. He had his dagger at his side, a gift from his mother when he arrived, "I almost got stabbed the first time, but I didn't, which is pretty good!"

Giselle smiled at her cousin's enthusiastic respond. Nico slowly nodded at his words, looking at the blonde boy that was taller than him, "Who's your godly parent?"

"My mum's Polyhymnia," Matheo said looking at two older girls to see if he pronounced it correctly. Juliet nodded, "Yeah, Polyhymnia! She's really cool! She gave me this dagger, look!"

Matheo went to unleash his dagger just as Chiron's hoof thundered on the pavilion floor.

"Heroes!" he called. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team ─ Camp Half-Blood ─ shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis ─ red team ─ shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!"

"Blue team! Follow me!" Thalia yelled.

They cheered and followed.

The campers set their flag at the top of Zeus's Fist. It's this cluster of boulders in the middle of the west woods that, if you look at it just the right way, looks like a huge fist sticking out of the ground. If you look at it from any other side, it looks like a pile of enormous deer droppings, but Chiron wouldn't let them call the place the Poop Pile, especially after it had been named for Zeus, who doesn't have much of a sense of humor.

Still, it was a good place to set the flag. The top boulder was twenty feet tall and really hard to climb, so the flag was clearly visible, like the rules said it had to be, and it didn't matter that the guards weren't allowed to stand within ten yards of it.

Percy set Nico on guard duty with Beckendorf and the Stoll brothers, figuring he'd be safely out of the way.

"We'll send out a decoy to the left," Thalia told the team. "Silena, you lead that."

"Got it!"

"Take Laurel and Michael. They're good runners. Make a wide arc around the Hunters, attract as many as you can. I'll take the main raiding party around to the right and catch them by surprise."

Everybody nodded. It sounded good, and Thalia said it with such confidence you couldn't help but believe it would work. Thalia looked at Percy. "Anything to add, Percy?"

"Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. I'll be roving. Yell if you need help."

"And don't leave your post!" Thalia said.

"Unless you see a golden opportunity,"

Thalia scowled. "Just don't leave your post."

"Right, unless ─ "

"Percy!" she touched his arm and shocked the boy. Sure, everybody can give static shocks in the winter, but when Thalia does, it hurts. Percy guessed it's because her dad is the god of lightning. She's been known to fry off people's eyebrows.

"Sorry," Thalia said, though she didn't sound particularly sorry. "Now, is everybody clear?" 

Everybody nodded. We broke into our smaller groups. The horn sounded, and the game began. 

Silena's group disappeared into the woods on the left. Thalia's group gave it a few seconds, then darted off toward the right.

Giselle waited for something to happen. She climbed Zeus's Fist and had a good view over the forest. She remembered how the Hunters had stormed out of the woods when they fought the manticore, and she was prepared for something like that ─ one huge charge that could overwhelm them.

But nothing happened.

The brunette caught a glimpse of Silena and her two scouts. They ran through a clearing, followed by five of the Hunters, leading them deep into the woods and away from Thalia. The plan seemed to be working. Then she spotted another clump of Hunters heading to the right, bows ready. They must've spotted Thalia.

"What's happening?" Nico demanded, trying to climb up next to Giselle.

The girl was perfectly fine sitting there and waiting for something to happen on her side. She had no desire to go and fight against Hunters she knew she would lose, so just staying out of way was the best option in her opinion.

Not Percy's.

He looked at Beckendorf. "Can you guys hold the fort?"

Beckendorf snorted. "Of course."

"I'm going in.

"Percy!" Giselle called out but the boy didn't stop as he raced toward the boundary line. "What an idiot."

AND SHE WAS RIGHT.

He was an idiot.

Percy was two feet from the water when Zoë bolted across to her own side, slamming into the boy for good measure. The Hunters cheered as both sides converged on the creek. Chiron appeared out of the woods, looking grim. He had the Stoll brothers on his back, and it looked as if both of them had taken some nasty whacks to the head. Connor Stoll had two arrows sticking out of his helmet like antennae. Giselle, Nico and her cousins walked over, seeing the mess that was in front of them

"The Hunters win!" Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, "For the fifty-sixth time in a row."

"Perseus Jackson!" Thalia yelled, storming toward the boy. She smelled like rotten eggs, and she was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armor.

Everybody cringed and backed up because of Aegis.

"What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?" she bellowed.

"I got the flag, Thalia!" Percy shook it in her face. "I saw a chance and I took it!"

"I WAS AT THEIR BASE!" Thalia yelled. "But the flag was gone. If you hadn't butted in, we would've won."

"You had too many on you!"

"Oh, so it's my fault?"

"I didn't say that."

"Argh!" Thalia pushed the boy, blowing him backward ten feet into the water. Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs.

"Sorry!" Thalia said, turning pale. "I didn't mean to ─ "

Giselle could feel anger going though Percy. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe. The boy stood up.

"Yeah," Percy growled. "I didn't mean to, either."

Thalia was breathing heavily.

"Enough!" Chiron ordered.

But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Fish boy?"

"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!"

Percy raised Riptide, but before he could even defend himself, Thalia yelled, and a blast of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and slammed into the boy's chest. Percy sat down hard.

"Thalia!" Chiron said. "That is enough!"

Percy got to his feet and willed the entire creek to rise. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water in a massive icy funnel cloud.

"Percy!" Chiron pleaded. He turned towards Giselle, "Could you please intervene?"

The brunette shook her head, "No, thank you. I don't wanna get involved."

The boy was about to hurl it at Thalia when he saw something in the woods. Percy lost his anger and his concentration all at once. The water splashed back into the creek bed. Giselle was so surprised at his sudden move, her eyes following Percy's. Someone. . . something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.

"This is impossible," Chiron said. I'd never heard him sound so nervous. "It... she has never left the attic. Never."

And yet, the withered mummy that held the Oracle shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around their feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green. None of them dared move. Then her voice hissed inside Giselle's head. Apparently everyone could hear it, because several clutched their hands over the ears. 

I am the sprit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python.

The Oracle regarded Percy with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably toward Zoë Nightshade. Approach, Seeker, and ask.

Zoë swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?"

The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out.

Giselle saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain.

The Oracle spoke:

Six shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain.
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and Hunters combined prevail.
Death that follows with clattering teeth,
Will perish by a hand of a different breed.
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

Then, as they watched, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she'd been in the attic, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.